While touring the world, I have spent far too many hours sitting at FOH, wondering who in the world designs some of these venues. I decided that I should put my two cents in writing instead of stewing in my own disgust of poor forethought. Here are a few remarks that I would like to make to anyone who is considering designing an entertainment venue.
Centerline
After coffee, the centerline is the first thing a production asks for in the morning. Please make sure that the centerline is visible and accurate. The centerline is the seed that the stage grows from. If that seed is askew, the entire production can become tainted. I have seen one too many productions screech to a halt because the stage was built to a piece of tape that the carpenter thought was the center line, and the lighting team built their rig to the center of the truss, which isn’t actually the center of the stage, and the riggers rigged to the center beam, but that’s not the center of the room. All departments need to work off of the same centerline to assure symmetry and beauty. The centerline of the stage has to match the centerline of the truss, the motors, the speakers, the audience and the mirror ball. That brings me to my next observation.
Symmetry
Make your performance space as symmetrical as possible. Asymmetry has a time and a place, but it’s not in your multi-purpose room. Leave the asymmetrical weirdness to Cirque du Soleil and Frank Gehry. Your venue needs to be symmetrical so that a 40-foot down stage truss can reach 30 feet of trim on stage left AND on stage right. This means that if there is a staircase from the deck to the dance floor on stage left, there should be a staircase on stage right as well. Make sure that when the giant red curtain closes, it meets in the middle.
“I learned a long time ago that you can get asymmetrical looks from a symmetrical design — but it doesn’t work the other way,” says LD Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting. “When you’re designing a show that is presenting a centerpiece — a stage element, a DJ booth, whatever it may be — the cleanest looks always come from symmetry.”
Make it Dark
White walls and roofs have no place in the theater. That goes for yellow, orange, beige and amber as well. Performance spaces are supposed to be dark so that all of the audience’s attention is on the performance. The room can be as decorative and ornate as your designer heart desires but keep your color tones dark. When the house lights go out, the room needs to be DARK. I understand the need for illuminated exit signs, but the flickering LED tube in the house right vestibule lighting the Grecian urn needs to go out when I want it to. House lights that don’t go out are useless.
Here is a perfect example of bad house light preparations as told by lighting crew chief Ronnie Beal:
“It was 1999, and I was on tour with the band, Live. We were playing colleges. I don’t recall the specific venue, but it was a basketball arena, and we were the first show they had ever done. After we loaded in, I inquired with the local promoter about house lights. After a few “I don’t knows,” we located a building maintenance man, who seemed to think that the house lights were always on. We found a breaker panel, but killing the breakers just enabled the emergency lighting. After a couple more maintenance people got involved, it occurred to one that maybe the motion sensors in the hall turned the lights on and off. We put gaff tape over the sensors, and nothing happened. As we were looking for more sensors, the lights finally went out. Uncertain, we pulled the tape off one sensor, and the lights came back on. We then put the tape back on, and started a stopwatch. Seven minutes later, the lights went out. A few more tests revealed a seven-minute delay between no motion and the lights going out, but the delay wasn’t consistent. 7:15, 6:58, etc. So for both the opening act and the main act, we had to cue ‘Go houselights in seven minutes’ and cover the sensor.”
Docks Need to Match the Venue
Do not think that for one second that a 4,000-seat venue with a 70-foot stage and a 50-foot trim will load in through a half-mile hallway, up a passenger elevator and through the back freezer. If you want to book big bands, they come with big productions. That means tractor-trailers — lots of them. Semis take up a lot of space, and you will need to put them somewhere. Once they are parked, they will spill forth metric tons of gear, and all that equipment needs to get to the stage in the most efficient manner. Your design needs to allow for that. You should consider putting these docks as close to the stage as possible. You could get really creative and actually allow the trucks to off-load directly onto the stage. If the path requires an elevator, you need to ensure that the elevator is proportionate to the stage. If you have to make the load in path down a hallway, make sure that the path is level, wide and clear of obstructions. Speaking of…
Storage Space is Not an Option
It is a necessity. Just because you designed a stage large enough to fit a 747 does not mean that any of that space can be used for storage. In fact, the opposite is true. Your stage needs to be emptied for the next production, and now you need a space to fit your 747. Verify that your venue has a proper amount of storage to suit your performances. Make the storage areas accessible. I don’t want to take all of my dead console cases down a staircase, through a doorway, and shove it in the keg freezer. I need it immediately available after the show.
Put Power and Data Everywhere
Has an accountant or contractor ever told you that you don’t need to consider putting an outlet on that wall because no one will ever need power there? If so, you need to be prepared to do battle for that outlet. The very first corporate event that confirms in that room will put a banquet table with an ice sculpture, carving station or LED uplight against that wall. Your venue needs to be ready for such an occasion because it happens ALL THE TIME. Put 110V or even 220V connectors everywhere that you can imagine. If you don’t, your venue will be covered with a sloppily taped-down spaghetti of orange and black extension cords crisscrossing every doorway and exit at every event.
When designing a venue, beauty needs to be in the forefront of your thought process. However, function needs to take priority. Please send an email to at least one grumpy old technician who can give you a list of things that are wrong with every third venue that they have ever set up shop at. Ask them how to fix those problems, and take that into account before you submit your plans for approval. You will get mad props from technicians, production managers and touring bands for years to come.
Chris Lose is a lighting director, content designer, and programmer who operates out of Las Vegas-based Q3 Event Productions (www.q3lv.com).
